1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a system and method for repairing composite parts, such as aircraft parts and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for creating a map of a plurality of composite ply edges. The map may be used for manufacturing and applying filler composite plies to the ply edges of the composite part, replacing a removed damaged portion of the composite part.
2. Related Art
Composite parts for use in airplanes and other applications may be made from strips of composite material laid by hand or by a numerical control (NC) machine in adjacent paths to form a composite ply. Multiple layers of ply, infused with resin and built up on top of each other, are then hardened by applying heat and pressure during a curing process. Typically each ply is comprised of fibers having a particular orientation, and each ply's fibers may have a different orientation than the orientation of the fibers of its adjacent plies. Composite parts are generally strong and light-weight. However, composite components can be expensive and time-consuming to manufacture, so it is not always cost-effective to replace a composite part when it is damaged. Therefore, methods have been developed to repair damaged sections of composite parts.
Current composite repair technology requires that an operator manually cut out the damaged area and then taper-sand the cut edge of the composite part, such that each successive adjacent ply edge extends farther inward laterally than the preceding ply edge. An operator then places a clear, tough polymeric polyester film over the taper-sanded area of the composite part and tapes the clear film to the composite part. Next, the operator traces the ply boundary, also referred to as the ply edge, for each of the taper-sanded composite plies onto the clear film with a pen. The operator must also determine and keep track of the fiber orientation for each ply. Once all boundaries are traced, small holes are cut into the clear film such that a dashed boundary pattern can be transferred from the clear film tracings to a ply of composite material. The operator then uses a pen to individually trace each of the ply boundaries from the clear film to a composite material ply for manufacturing filler plies, being careful to keep the same fiber orientation as was recorded for each corresponding ply of the composite part. Then the operator uses scissors or a knife to cut the plies along the traced lines for the filler plies. The filler plies are then placed inward of their corresponding ply boundaries and the curing process is initiated. This repair method can be mistake prone and time consuming. In addition, this method is limited in its accuracy and ability to precisely match the taper-sanded ply boundary to the filler ply's peripheral edge.
Accordingly there is a need for a method for precisely repairing a composite part does not suffer from the problems and limitations of the prior art.